Coming Soon

Coming Soon	The pieces on this page are in the publication process, and will appear on the "Newly In Print" page as soon as they are printed. Sound Clips. Where this icon appears next to a piece, click on it to hear a short sound clip of that piece. Clips are MP3 format, and can be heard in many players, including Microsoft Media Player. If you don't have it, get it free here.
Flamenco dancer Cory Carile joins the wonderful Hamilton Children's Choir in Überlebensgross, directed by Zimfira Poloz.
Beginner's Alphabet SSA and piano, optional bass and drums, optional string quartet Savridi	"A" is for the Amniotic womb of the sea. "B" is for the Baby the whole planet used to be. Since the Savridi Singers of Calgary, Alberta, had asked me for a piece on the theme of children and hope, it seemed appropriate to write an alphabet whose key words included Children, Hope and Voices, although there are many other thematic diversions that arise as the letters progress: "E" is for the Elements to which we return. "F" is the Fossils that we resurrect and burn. The piece is both gentle and driving, a perpetual motion chant with a steady-ticking piano part, and a style somewhere between a folk-blues, a nursery rhyme, and the Dixie Cups. "Beginner’s Alphabet" can work with just piano, or you can add bass and drums to the piano, or add a string quartet to all three. The vocal parts are not technically demanding, although to keep that crisp, buoyant, rhythmic style going for the whole piece carries its own demands on a singer’s stamina and musical intelligence. I hope to have a recording to post before long. The soundfile is an excellent model for the diction, which is crystal clear without sounding formal, and for the overall styling and phrasing. In this live performance the drums are a little too forward in the mix; for all that the drums are obviously summoning up the spirit of an old-time rock beat, I still want them to float and glide under the voices like a hovercraft. top
Down Low With Finesse SSA divisi, a cappella Finesse	The title refers to handling a mood swing with style, but also pays tribute to the choir’s name: Finesse is a girls’ chamber ensemble from Mt. Whitney H.S. in Visalia, California, directed by Brad Hayashi. My text deals with the anxieties of young adulthood that are exorcised, chant-style, in a cyclone swirl of ostinati, funky riffs and “chacka chacka” vocal effects that turn the choir into a beat box or an air guitar. I’ve often said that I think of a choir as a tribe, in Down Low With Finesse the tribal experience of putting the piece together becomes the best therapy for overcoming despair, described in this piece as “that down-low creepin’ song”. The accompanying soundfile was made during a classroom rehearsal with Finesse – a wonderful workshop with a very hip, intelligent ensemble with a lot of personality. top
En El Principio SATB divisi, percussion and string bass	Commissioned in California by the Bakersfield High School Chorale and their director Christopher Borges, the bilingual text (English and Spanish) was written in collaboration with choir accompanist Alicia Ellsworth. En el principio somos diferentes – diferentes nombres, diferentes caras, historias, razas. “In the beginning we were all different – different names, faces, stories, races.” The choir becomes the image of e pluribus unum, and the yin/yang themes of unity within diversity and diversity within unity are musically underscored by the use of counterpoint, interconnected ostinati, and the trading of vocal lines between the sections. Percussion and string bass help create the Latin beat, and although the piece can be performed without the bass, it is much richer and harmonically more grounded with it. While workshopping the piece with the choir we found that different tempi created interesting variations in mood and groove. The accompanying soundfile has the crackling energy of the premiere, but we also liked the suave feel when the tempo was a little slower. top
Fair Time Ago SSA with solos/soli	I was asked to write a piece for Lady Cove, a women’s choir from St. John’s led by Kellie Walsh, that would honour the role of women in traditional Newfoundland culture. The result, in a gently dancing slow 6/8, is an interweaving of narratives through an interweaving of solos or soli around the tutti texture. There are many ways these solos/soli could be distributed, depending on the vocal balance of the individual choir; during these antiphonal sections the tutti choir stays in two parts, which gives extra wiggle room when it comes to distributing solos without fatally weakening the ensemble sound. This piece looks backward in time, which makes it especially suitable for adult voices, but as many of the narratives come from young women peering into the future, the piece is also especially suitable for young voices. top
Ripple Effect SSAA and piano Amabile	"Dip your fingers in the water and the rings will spread. And they spread to who knows how far away? To beyond what you see, beyond what you hear, Like the voice of the candle when you pray." "Ripple Effect" was written in honour of the 25th anniversary of the Amabile Youth Singers, the choir with whom I’ve collaborated on so many pieces. This is one of my dreamy, creamy pieces, where the text's theme of ripples sent through water and air is reinforced by musical allusions to the chord progression of Donovan's water song "Atlantis" and the D flat tonality and rising thirds of Debussy’s airy "Clair de Lune". The goal is a gentle luminosity, a pearly fog or a cool river full of blue and silver sparkles. (A very helpful comment, I'm sure.) "Ripple Effect" refers to the spreading influence of trailblazers like Amabile, as well as the importance of choral music in the search for a transcendence beyond words. Fairly advanced, but well within the reach of a good high school ensemble. The soundfile gives most of the piece from a live performance. It's a "raw footage" recording which gives the voices something of a hard sound, and doesn't properly show the lush and dreamy timbre of the choir. top
Vincit Qui Se Vincit SSATB, piano and percussion	Vincit qui se vincit, or “He conquers who conquers himself” is the motto of the Kingswood-Oxford School, for whose 2009 centennial this piece was written in the key of C: C for “conquer ; C for “centennial”; C for its musical sense of “it all starts here”. The school follows the classical Latin pronunciation of soft “v” (like the English “w”) and hard “c” (like the English “k”). In setting the motto to music I have followed the later choral tradition of hard “v” as in “victor” and the soft “c” of “city”. Music director Marcos Carreras combined his middle and senior choirs in the SSATB texture, but overall this is for high-school and above. The groove is Pan-Hispanic, the vocal parts full of antiphony and counterpoint, and the text gives room for discussion as well as the kind of uplift required in an anthem that celebrates learning and enterprise. This anthem is perfect for the public occasion where a ceremonial dignity can be combined with a sense of dance. The percussion part calls for four instruments – congas, shaker, cowbell and cabasa – but it is possible to perform the piece with fewer players. Notes are included for percussion options, as well as the option for the audience to sing their own riff at measure 107. The pianist gets to both accompany and solo. top
Vive La Rose SA(T)B and piano	A French folk song beloved on both sides of the Atlantic, this bittersweet arrangement was commissioned by Dr. Claire Wilkshire and La Rose des Vents, the choir of the Francophone Community Association of St. John’s, Newfoundland. The story of a damsel’s broken heart is told with the mixture of simplicity and subtlety in which French songs often excel – what a depth of contradictory feeling there is in her final lines: “Mardi reviendra me voir, / Mais je n’en voudrai pas.” “Tuesday he’ll come back to see me, But I wouldn’t want him anymore.” This is one of those songs where the choir tells a sad, sweet, simple tale that also showcases their phrases and vocal warmth. Lots of counter-melodies, lots of counterpoint amid the sad, sweet, simple harmonies. The arrangement is intended to work for trained choirs as well as community choirs where one cannot always count on wide vocal ranges or experienced readers, where the tenor line may be doubled by the contraltos and the baritones may not always be able to divide into tenor and bass. “Vive La Rose” has been recorded by many famous French musicians, and the version of the text that I have used is a tribute to the father of French Newfoundland fiddle music, Emile Benoit. top
A photo session with the stars of Ann & Séamus: Andrew Dale, Kathleen Allan, and on the far right Alison Nicholas. Photos by Chris Nicholas.